(A take on the dance of thieves book)
It was the third night that the Ballengers were helping to build the new settlement. They had only planned to be there for one day. It seemed Jase had taken a real passion for this new town they were creating.
The Ballengers and Vendans and the three Rhatan were sitting around the great oak again, just like they has the previous two nights. But this time everyone seemed to be mixed in a little more. When they first worked together it was like putting some near pepper. It was the same way it has been with Mason and Synove. Synove had chatted non stop when she was around him, just like with anybody else, and to everyone else Mason had seemed like he was sick of it. But that wasn’t it. He didn’t dislike Synove one bit. No, but Masons heart still belonged to someone else. He wasn’t currently loyal to Shiya anymore. She had ended things between them, the reason still unknown to Mason. He loved Synove’s company and chatty personality but part of him was still holding on to Shiya. He was tired of acting annoyed of Synove.
Mason sat by Synove long after dinner by the oak tree. All the Vendans were sleeping far from them, and most of. His siblings had already left. The fire was still dimly lit. They were resting quiet close to it, so Mason rolled up his sleeves from the heat, showing his tattoo, the same one all the Ballengers had. Except for Lydia and Nash of course.
Mason rested his head against the trunk, closing his eyes. He suddenly felt gentle hands running across his shoulder. He flinched away before realizing it was Synove. Her fingers didn’t leave his shoulder. She traced each feather individually. Mason only watched.
“What does it mean?” Synove said her gaze still fixed on his inked shoulder.
“It’s the Balnger crest. It came from our first ancestor, Greyson Ballenger. This is a version of the original one. All of us Ballengers have it.” Mason answered.
“It’s beautiful. When did you get it?”
“A year after Jase. Even thought were the same age, he wanted to get it a year earlier, at 15. He cried like a baby.” Mason said with a soft smile, memories flashing through his eyes.
“You’re the same age? So are you…” Synove started.
“Adopted? Yes. My parents were killed when I was three. Varylin took me in.” Mason answered while staring straight ahead.
“My parents were killed too. The queen took me in. Trained me to become Rhatan.” Synove said with great pride.
Mason look at Synove, realizing he never noticed the way her red locks flowed down her shoulders, and her crystal clear blue eyes. He grabbed her hand and interlocked it with his, kissing each ring that laced her fingers. She rested her head on his shoulder and they stared at the fire until they nodded off together.
I’m sitting under a great weeping willow Watching the clouds pass in the sky The grass underneath me is like a pillow And all I dream of is flying high
I feel myself drifting Like the fluffy white clouds Then I start lifting The world below me is nothing but a shroud
Suddenly I am up with the clouds I see a dog starting to chase - The huge white round of clouds And then I am awoken by a dog lick to the face
Every Saturday evening of every summer I can remember up until the summer of 2019, Grandma and I would take a drive to the beach and spend a couple hours on the shore and boardwalk after my long day of work at the local tourist place, Captain Ray’s Souvenir Shop. We would start by setting up our towels and umbrellas on the sand and listen to the lull of the sea. We would watch the sunset painted clouds pass by in silence. Once one of us was tired of the quiet, we’d pack up and walk to the boardwalk. She’d always be indulgent in buying me clothes, food, or anything I pointed to. One time she bought me the prettiest chartreuse sun dress. Then she’d drive me home and we’d do it all again the next Saturday.
The summer of 2019 was my last summer with Grandma.
“So, here we are”.
“Yep. Here we are”, I repeat.
‘Do you know why I have brought you here?”, Astra says.
“To the imaginary blank sheet of paper in my mind? No, I do not in fact know why”.
“Really? You can’t think of a single problem I’d want to discuss with you?”
“Nope”, I say.
“How about my replacement?!”, Astra spits.
I chuckle and shake my head. “What about her?”
“Oh, come on. You dump the story you had going on between me and Rohan and create a whole new story without even changing the name. Now you have two characters named Astra!”
“Look, no hard feelings but your story was kind of lame”.
Astra gasped, offended.
New Astra appear in the blank sheet of paper.
“Heyy, I heard you guys talking bout me”, New Astra says.
“This. This is her?”, Astra point to New Astra without a trace of humor on her face. “Alright, were done here”. She pats her knees as she gets up and leaves.
New Astra and I look at each other and shrug. She takes the empty chair in front of me.
“So how are you?”, I say like a mom gossiping after church.
“I’m great! Ugh, but oh my, Mero is being so difficult”, New Astra says as she rolls her eyes.
“A I see, well we can’t have that. I’ll change it later”. I wink at New Astra.
She smiles and we sip the tea that was suddenly in our hands.
Annie’s hands were practically frozen to the paddle that quickly cut through the cold icy water. Her fingers were blue and purple. She could barely breathe and was constantly whipping her head around, making sure she wasn’t being followed by her masters.
It had been 11 months since she had been brought to that god forsaken manor. Many of the other slaves did not live past their first few months at the house. The condition were brutal…more than brutal, inhumane some would say.
Somehow Annie had survived this long, and she couldn’t take it anymore, physically and mentally. She had attempted at many escapes, but failed every time. This time she hoped would be different.
There was a river that ran very close to the manor that Annie planned to paddle down during the cover of night. It was mid December and the water was cold enough to stop her heart.
After she put some distance between her and the manor, Annie stopped checking behind herself so often.
A couple miles down the river, she looked behind her again, and a couple hundred feet back was another canoe, in fast pursue of her. She grabbed the paddle that laid across her lap so fast she almost fell into the river.
She paddled like her life depended on it, which it did. The man behind her-which she assumed could only be one of her masters-thankfully hadn’t gained much distance on her.
But in the pitch black of night she saw another man running with a torch along the back of the river with two dogs by his side who barked hysterically.
Annie’s heart pounded as she knew of the narrowness and shallowness of the part of the river that was not far up ahead. She paddled as fast a her cold arms could, hoping to reach the area first and make a run for the woods.
But it was too late. Upstream was three other men and their lanterns, waiting for Annie.
It was over.
Angie sat on the side of the peer, dangling her feet in the water, teasing the fish that would occasionally bite at the ends of her sandals. She watched the sunset thinking of everything, and nothing. Her breathing slowed as her mind transported her away from the moment. She thought about her trip in the fall. How different things would be. How much she would miss her hometown that was Key West, her house, her family, and Cameron. She hadn’t told him about her leaving. Angie went over in her head the many ways she would break the news to him. It was terrifying, having to tell her best friend that they wouldn’t be about to say good morning and goodnight face to face everyday anymore. But her future was changing everything.
“Heyy”.
“Hey”.
“I bought us some ice-cream”, Cameron said as he placed a caramel covered cone in her hand.
“Thanks”, Angie said, sort of sighing the word.
Cameron put a bored look on his face.
“What’s up”?
“I’ve been thinking”.
“Thinking…”?
“Thinking. Well not thinking, actually yes thinking. But not the pondering sort of thinking, more of the thinking where I’m doing something already I plan on doing and I’ve been thinking about”.
“Oh…well is there something happening you need to te-“‘.
“I’m leaving”.
“What? Oh”.
“I’m leaving. I’m leaving Key West and I’m scared to leave and I was scared to tell you, but now you know and…yeah”.
“Where are you going?”, Jamie said blankly.
“Scotland…I’m studying there”.
“Wow”.
“Are you mad”?
“Mad? No. How can I be mad about you going on and living life? I knew there was always going to be a day where…”, his voiced wavered as he tried to hold back tears, “where you or I would leave here and we would be separated. I just never truly accepted the fact”.
Cameron laughed at himself as a tear rolled down his cheek. He looked away from Angie.
She placed her hand on his. “Tell me what your thinking”.
“Angie…”, He looked into her ocean blue eyes.
“I know what you’re thinking. And…I’ve been thinking about it too…but more of the pondering type of thinking”, Angie said with a crooked smile.
Cameron looked at her with a fleeting hopefulness.
“But you know we can’t…be together”.
A long silence filled the air.
“I know”.
Another long silence.
“Cameron”?
“Yes”?
“I’m scared”.
“Oh Angie…” He put her hands in his and got her to her feet, “This is your future, not fear. And although those two things go hand in hand, they don’t have to for you”.
She nodded and broke out sobbing. Cameron held her until the sun melted into the sea.
I was soaking in the beauty of the last sunset I would see in Amsterdam while resting my arms on the rusted rail of the balcony with Esmerelda by my side. I could feel her eyes on me and she knew it. I gave a soft smile to tease her and she pushed my arm while having a laughing fit. Picking her up by the waist I threw her onto the velvet couch on the balcony. Shoving her legs to the side we both sank into the red couch that ate us alive.
“Time to go”, I said
“Ugh I never want to leave this beautiful city, Will” Ez replied with a pout on her face
Ez was my childhood friend. Our trip has been the most thrilling time of my life. I wouldn’t do it with anybody else. Her parents were skeptical about letting her go abroad as they were scared something would happen since she was a young girl traveling with a guy like me. I say a ‘guy like me’ like it’s a bad thing which it’s really not, but her parents are just strict that way. I understand though, I would never want anything happen to Esme either. I would protect her at any costs.
…
Next thing I know I’m standing in the middle of a Brazilian street breaking my neck while trying to see the top of Christ the Redeemer. Me and Ez looked at each other and couldn’t stop laughing in disbelief. She grabbed my hand and we ran to our small apartment that would become our home for the next couple weeks.
Over the days that would follow we made it our mission to see everything we possible could. From going to bars and meeting some unpleasant natives, to hiking the most extreme mountains Rio had to offer, to paragliding over the sapphire blue ocean. It was really the most incredible place I had ever been.
We found an abandoned building in the most perfect overlook of the bay and it became our go to place in the evening. One night, when the stars looked so vibrant that it was as if you could just reach up and grab one from the sky, we were sitting on the topmost balcony of the decrepit building when we recited our dreams for the future to each other like we weren’t living the dreams of our past selves already. While the sky went burnt orange and the city was falling asleep, Esme’s head fell onto my shoulder and I put my jacket around her. Little did I know and would find out later that she was really awake the whole time.
Which leads us to the climax of this situation. We were sitting at our favorite restaurant just finishing our food, when Ez had to run back to the apartment to get her purse as we had decided to go on a tour of a couple parts of the city we hadn’t seen yet. So, as you do, I sat at the bar and ordered a drink when the most beautiful woman I had ever saw placed herself right next to me. She had the silkiest chocolate hair and a childish but elegant look about her appearance. Her name was Genevieve D’borough. I’m not going to bore with the small conversation we had, but I will tell you that I had never clicked like that with anyone before. I demanded she took my arm and we stroll down and back the street. We ended up sitting on a bench just outside the swinging door of the restaurant under a small ambient lantern. She was babbling on about her life, and I felt the greatest impulse of my life. I quickly leaned in slowly kissed her. The churn I felt in my stomach was a feeling unlike anything I had every felt.
It just so happened that Esmerelda was walking around the corner to seem me kissing this stranger. I saw Esme over Genevieve shoulder as she broke into uncontrollable tears and ran back to the apartment.
You can guess what happened next. I tried to explain my side of the story, and she hers. She knew I never felt romantic love towards her and I don’t think I ever could. How could she be angry at me for that? How could I be in the wrong? She was gone from Rio next morning and I didn’t see her until my wedding with Genevieve four years later.
I have almost no personality to my parents If I sat still and silently obeyed, I would get anything I wanted Father had an important position in the army and would do anything to protect not losing it Even if that means losing connections to his family
I'm not an only child, I do have a baby sister who sucks up all the attention wherever we go, seemly leaving none for me My parents only had room to love are child, and that child was not me I was silenced everytime I peeped my opinion Silence was a priceless gift from me to them